As experts, trade magazines and an ever-growing body of books advise business owners to mind their brand images, some business owners might question the purpose of all the attention on brand image. Despite any lingering doubts in some minds, the advice is sound. Brand image exerts a real influence on customers' buying decisions.

Brand Image

A brand image sums up consumer perceptions regarding a given brand’s overall personality. This perceived image includes evaluative, though not necessarily conscious, considerations of the relative strengths and weakness of a brand. The marketing materials and advertising efforts of the business behind the brand, as well the consumer experience with the brand over time, help to shape and refine brand image. Because brand image corresponds to the sometimes mercurial tastes and attitudes of the public, it remains transient and subject to constant revision.

Perceived Quality and Benefits

Consumer perceptions regarding quality and benefits impact brand image. When consumers perceive the quality or benefits of a product or service as high, it strengthens brand image. A stronger brand image, in turn, improves perceptions of quality and benefits. Consumer perception of a product or service as offering poor quality or service weakens brand image, regardless of facts to the contrary. The weakened brand image creates a reciprocal amplification of perceptions of poor quality and benefits.

Perceived Risk

Perceived risk refers to the level of uncertainty consumers experience about both the nature and extent of loss they might experience after purchasing a product. For example, a consumer experiences relatively low perceived risk when buying a candy bar, due to the low cost and limited scope of impact. Purchasing a new vehicle or home, however, often generates a high level of perceived risk, due to the high costs and extensive scope of impact on the buyer’s life should the purchase prove a bad decision. Brand image attributes such as prestige and credulity can diminish perceived risk.

Price Evaluation

Strong brand image tends to partially mitigate the price tag evaluations many consumers employ when considering whether to buy a product or service. In essence, the perceived brand image alters the perceived price. For example, the positive brand image Mercedes-Benz enjoys can alter consumer perception of sticker price, while consumers would judge an equivalent vehicle made by a new company with a weak brand image from a strict numbers perspective.

Purchase Intention

At its most basic, purchase intention boils down to whether a customer plans to buy something from a business at some point in the future. Strong brand images improve perceptions of quality and benefits, reduce perceived risk and soften the consumer tendency to evaluate only the basis of price. Taken together, these factors all improve consumer purchase intentions. Weak brand image, by contrast, can reduce purchase intentions or relegate purchase intentions to the realm of pure price tag analysis.

About the Author

I have been working as a freelance writer recently. However, the majority of my recent work has been ghostwriting or required a non-disclosure agreement. As such, providing a truly meaningful representative piece is somewhat difficult. I have included the address to my blog on philosophy. It will naturally suffer from all the problems blog writing suffers from, but it should provide a sense of how I write should you choose to read it.